Hinge safe

ABSTRACT

D R A W I N G A SMALL JEWEL SAFE IS COMBINED WITH A HINGE AND IS RECEIVED IN AN OPENING FORMED IN THE EDGE OF A CLOSET DOOR OR THE LIKE WHICH IS UNOBSTRUCTIVE, INCONSPICUOUS, AND FULLY CONCEALED WHEN THE CLOSET DOOR IS CLOSED.

w. N. wELrY Feb.' 20, 1973 HINGE SAFE Filed Sept. 27, 1971 FIG-1 FIG-6 United States Patent O 3,717,112 HINGE SAFE Wilbert N. Welty, 4125 Banning Ave.,

Dayton, Ohio y45405 Filed Sept. 27, 1971, Ser. No. 183,98

. Int. Cl. Eg 3/00 U.S. Cl. 109-23 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A small jewel safe is combined with a hinge and is received in an opening formed in the edge of a closet door or ,the like which is unobtrusive, inconspicuous, and fully concealed when the closet door is closed.

BACKGROUND oF THE INVENTION Hidden jewel boxes or wall safes have vnotreceived wide-spread or general popularity primarily due to the cost of such items and the necessity for finding a suitable location for installation which is both discrete and yet reasonably accessible. In particular, safes have been combined with doors as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,086,018 and 2,798,445. These were not associated with hinges but were associated with the normally visible open or latch side of the door, and thus were not fully inconspicuous or discrete.V

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a novel wall safe or jewel safe arrangement which is associated with the hidden edge, such as the hinge edge, of a door, or the hidden hinge edge of any suitable pivoting or folding closure. In the preferred embodiment, the invention includes a hinge in which one of the hinge plates is modified to receive a drawer, the latter being movable into a suitable mortice or opening formed in the door hinge edge. The drawer is provided with a front or face which, in the assembled condition, is flush with the hinge plate and does not interfere with the normal operation of the hinge.

.An advantage of the invention resides in the fact that the hidden jewel box arrangement is one which may be employed with closet doors or the like so that the jewel box face plate is not visible from the room, even if the door is somewhat ajar. Also, the jewel box is completely concealed when the associated closet door is closed.

In a broader sense, it is an object of my invention to provide a wall safe which is particularly adapted to be formed or received within a door on an inconspicuous edge thereof, particularly the edge of the door which is hinged to the door frame.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of an item of hardware, more particularly a hinge, in which one of the hinge plates is specially adapted to receive and support a removable jewel box drawer within an opening formed in the door behind that hinge plate.

A more specific object of this invention is the provision of a hardware item in the form of a hinge in which one of the hinge plates is specically adapted to incorporate a removable jewel box.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a closet hinge in which a jewel box is received within a recessed opening in the door at the hinge edge of the door and in which the jewel box is insertable and removable through an opening formed in one of the hinge plates.

One of the advantages of the present invention is that it is readily adaptable for use in both new and presently existing doors by the use of conventional tools. Simple latching or locking procedures may be used since the security of the device depends primarily on the fact that it it essentially undetectable from anything but a complete 3,71 7,1 l2 Patented Feb. 20, 1973 BRIEF DESCRIPTION lOF THE DRAWINGS FLIG. 1 is a perspective view of a room having a typical closet installation to which the present invention maybe applied;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective showing the invention as applied to a closet door;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section through the jewel box and dust cover taken generally along the line 3 3 of FIG. 4 looking into the side of the jewel box;

FIG. 4 is a section through the jewel box taken generally along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a transverse section taken generally along the line 5 5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. -6 is a fragmentary section showing a modification and FIG. 7 is av transverse section similar to FIG. 5 showing further details of the modication of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. l there is shown the room which includes a typical clothes closet installation in which a closet 10 is formed in the wall 11 and the door opening is framed by ajamb 12, an overhead lintel 13 and the second jamb 14. The closet door 15 is hinged to the jamb 14 by means of conventional hinges 18. 'In addition, the door is supported by a central hinge, according to this invention, as shown at 20 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Hinge 20 consists of a combined jewel safe and closet door hinge and includes a rst hinge plate 22 which is conventionally connected to the jamb 14 by means of screws 23. The plate 22 is pivotally connected to a modiiied hinge plate 24. The plates 22 and 24 are conventionally formed with intertting eyes 25 through which a conventional hinge pin 26 extends to join the plates together. The hinge plate 24, like its mating hinge plate 22, is set flush so that the door 15 can swing between its open position as shown in FIG. 1 and a normal closed position.

The modified hinge plate 24 is formed with means dening an opening 28 for the purpose of receiving a jewel drawer or box 30. Preferably, the plate is provided, on its back surface, with an enclosing sheet metal jacket or dust box 32 within which the drawer 30 may be received and forming an enclosure and a bottom support surface for the drawer 30. It is, however, within the scope of the i11- vention to eliminate the dust box 32 where desired.

The style at the hinge edge of the closet door 15 is formed with a suitable mortice or recess 33 for receiving the dust box 32 when the plate 24 is assembled to the door edge, as shown in FIG. 2. Obviously, the mortice opening may be formed with any conventional and suitable tool as may be customarily used in the insertion of door latches or the like. The plate 24 further includes a conventional upper attaching screw 34 and a lower attaching screw 35 which corresponds in appearance and function to the screws 23.

The box 30 is formed with a face plate 40 which, in the assembled position of the box, is flush with the hinge plate 24. Preferably, the face plate 40 substantially conforms to opening 28 and the outer surface thereof is iinished so as to resemble the finish of the hinge plate itself, and may preferably be formed of the same material as that of the hinge plate 24.

Means for removably securing the drawer 30 in the dust box 32 may comprise any number of suitable release attachments. In FIGS. 2-5, I have shown a key-operated push button latch 42 which may be of the kind customarily used in automotive glove compartment boxes, for example, except that the push button 43 is recessed so as to be flush with the face plate 40. The bolt 45 (FIG. 5) of the latch 42 extends through a suitable access opening formed in the side of the box or drawer 30 and into a keeper opening 46 formed in the adjacent side ofsthe dust box 32. The key slot opening may be cross-slotted as shown vat 48 in FIG. 2 to provide a visual similarity to that of the screws 34-35. A small compression spring S0 may be inserted between the back 52 of the drawer 30 and the back Wall 53 of the. box 32 to assist in the initial movement of the drawer outwardly for ease of gripping by the fingers.

An alternate securing arrangement is shown in FIG. 6 in which a rotatable tumble lock 60 is positioned adjacent the upper edge .of the front face plate 40 and is rotatable to insert its locking pin.62'through the open top of the drawer 30 and into a keeperopening 63 formed in the top of the dust box 32. Spring detent members 64 and 65 (FIG. 7) are carried on leaf spring 66 and operate through side openings of the drawer into suitable detent recesses formed in the side of the dust box. A swinging bail type handle 68 is mounted at a recessed portion 69 of a modified face plate 49a so thatwhen the bail is released it lies ush with the face plate and the associated hinge plate. In the embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7, the spring 50 may be omitted.

It is accordingly seen that this invention provides a useful hidden jewel box arrangement particularly adapted for use with inside doors, such as the closet door 15. Its use is not limited, of course, to closet doors and the combined hinge and wall safe may be used with folding doors and the like. Preferably, the unit 20 is used at a center hinge region for convenience, but it is obvious that it may be used at any position with respect to the hinged side of the door. Further, where greater storage capacity is desired, the hinge unit 20 may be substituted for two or more of the conventional hinges on a closet door.

The unit in use s thus inconspicuous even when the closet door is open and is totally concealed when the door is closed. It is readily fabricated using conventional metal working techniques and provides a hardware item which can be installed with new' installations or retrotted into conventional tools.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 181,445 8/1876 ilsakson 312-204 367,742 s/1ss7 Byrne i6-137x 1,641,249 9/1927 Blumemal 312-204 2,086,018 7/1937 Dyer 10Q- '50A 2,798,445 7/1957 Gehman 109-50 FOREIGN lPATENTS i 1,603 4/1877 'Great Britainr l SI12-204 D ENNIs L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner Q U.S.C1'.X;R. j I 16-1'37;l 109-54;

While the forms of apparatus hereindescribed com stitute preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise forms of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: A

1. A combined door, hinge and jewel safe comprising a. pair of pivotally connected `hingeplates, means in one of said plates defining an opening, and a jewel box drawer removably received in said opening, said box having aA face plate thereof in substantially flush alignment with said one hinge plate closing and concealing said opening in non-interfering relation to said hinge plates providing for normal operation of a door on whichsaid'hinge is installed. J v

4 2. YThe hinge as defined in claim.1 in which said face plate has an outer configuration, when said drawer. is received in said opening, so that said one hinge plate substantially matches the other hingeplate in appearance.

3. A security container for mounting inea door comprising a hinge having a pair of operable hinge plates supporting said door for opening and closingmvnvementl with respect to a door opening-means in one of saidlhinge plates defining an opening, a ,containerl removablyV mounted within said opening, Said container having `an exposed outer surface when received in -said open-l ing, said exposed outer surface being substantially ush with said one plate and providing said oneA hingek plate with substantially the' same 'outward appearance as the hinge plate, and'means removably securing said container within said opening.

4. The container of claim 3 wherein said securing means is a latch having the external appearance of a screw head.

References Cited 

